The 3 Sons of Soun Tendo
by Ron Dow75
Summary: The Tendo Sisters had upset their lives. The Tendo Brothers would overturn everything. Complete.


The 3 Sons of Soun Tendo  
By Ron Dow75  
With just a towel wrapped around her, Shampoo was   
brushing her long lavender hair in front of her vanity.   
Her pleasant thoughts of being Ranma's bride were   
interrupted by a grunting sound behind her.   
  
In one move, she leaped up, pivoted on one foot while   
kicking up with the other: "Hai-YAAAA!!"  
  
The little black pig struck her bedroom door, slamming it   
shut, and ricocheted up into the Amazon's hands.  
  
Shampoo didn't seem to care that the towel had fallen off   
of her. She dared the pig to look at anything but her   
angry eyes as she picked it up the back of its bandana.   
"What stupid pig-boy doing in room of Shampoo?"  
  
The sweating pig grunted, "Orroink?"  
  
"What this tied to back?" she wanted to know. The slam   
to the door had nearly loosened the long wooden box   
from twine around it and P-chan.   
  
When she pulled paper-wrapped box free, she tried to read   
the Japanese characters on the paper. "Shampoo no can   
read this. What it say?" She asked of the spell ward meant   
to keep harm in the box.  
  
The pig explained.  
  
"Stupid pig! You no can speak Japanese!" With that, she   
dropped the little creature, and pinned its head under   
her bare foot. She made sure it was facing away from her.   
Not that the desperate little pig even thought about   
looking up at her nude body.  
  
The box was harder to open than she'd thought. But her   
Amazon strength tore the paper that kept the lid to the   
box.   
  
When she looked inside, she cried, "Ha-Yaii!! THIS why   
you come in room of Shampoo!!"  
  
The pig under foot squealed with all its might as its   
hooves sscraped the floor to escape.   
  
"You real pervert-pig! Ranma only one for Shampoo!!   
Shampoo do to pervert-pig what pervert-pig want do to   
Shampoo!" And she took the realistically carved, highly   
polished, wooden phallus out of the box.  
  
The cat-cursed Amazon knew what was happening instantly.   
But it wasn't the shrinking she was used to. This time   
she expanded.  
  
And what seemed to expand the most was her groin. Her   
inner labia developed weights and swelled out, while her   
clitoris lengthened and thickened. "YAAAAAIIIII!!!"   
Shampoo's now tenor voice screamed.  
  
Shampoo's shock allowed P-chan to run.  
  
It banged into the closed door several times before   
looking for another exit.  
  
"Shampoo!! Who accosts my sweet Shampoo!!" Demanded   
Mousse, racing down the upstairs hall.  
  
The door splintered under the assault of his steel   
weights and blades.  
  
Even without his thick glasses, he knew a blur of a naked   
man looked like. "You vile fiend!! Naked in my Innocent   
Love's room! I shall punish you harshly!!"   
  
Splash! A bucket of water from behind him diminished the   
Master of Hidden Weapons.  
  
After turning Mousse into a duck, Cologne used the end of   
her staff to swiftly ensnare the fowl with the very   
chains that its weights and blades were attached to.   
"Quack!! Quack!!" it protested.  
  
"Hush!" the little, old woman told the bound bird.   
  
Turning to the man clutching his male member in   
disbelief, Cologne declared, "This is not a yaoi!" She   
hopped over to the young man with the long lavender hair   
and blew some powder in his face.  
  
After coughing and sneezing, Shampoo felt a great relief   
as at least his manhood shrank.   
  
The teenager sank to his knees, "Yai-ya! Thank you,   
Great-grandmother! What in that?"  
  
Satisfied with the boy's identity, Cologne said, "Mostly   
salt peter."  
  
"What happen, Great-grandmother?"  
  
"You tell me," she said, using the end of her staff to   
nudge the wooden phallus next to the lid with the ward on   
it.   
  
"Ha-YAA! It all pervert pig-boy fault!! He brought it to   
curse Shampoo!!" Shampoo cried, looking around for   
animal.  
  
Cologne saw the little, black thing peeking out from   
behind a curtain drape.   
  
(Though anchored down by its arsenal, the duck still   
tried to attack the pig.)  
  
"Shampoo, heat some water."  
  
"We boil pig alive?"  
  
The old woman chuckled somberly, "Perhaps."  
  
P-chan tried to use its Bakusai Tenketsu stone-breaking   
technique to bust through the wall.  
  
///  
  
They were in the kitchen now, standing by the pot on the   
stovetop. Cologne's staff was upside down; held by its   
bandana, P-chan was wedged a third of the way down its   
shaft.  
  
Cologne had found a pair of loose and plain Chinese   
clothes that fit the male Shampoo. But they had become   
soaking wet. "Yai! Shampoo no change to Shampoo with hot   
OR cold water! Ai-yyaa!!"  
  
"I told you, Child! It has not given you a curse!"  
  
"What is it, then, Great-grandmother?"  
  
"I'd rather not say, yet." She then glared at the pig.   
"You will tell me all that you know, won't you?"  
  
Sweating from fear and the heat from the pot, P-chan   
oinked its promise.  
  
The pot wasn't boiling yet, but it was: "Hot! Hot, hot,   
hot!" Ryoga jumped, freeing his bandana from the staff to   
dance on the floor.   
  
"Ay-yaa! Pig-boy naked!"  
  
Cologne said, "That is because he was under too much   
stress for his subconscious to remember to bring him his   
clothes. Shampoo, hand him the blanket I had you bring."  
  
"Shampoo rather kick him where Shampoo now can get   
kicked!"  
  
But under his Great-grandmother's stern look, he did as   
he was told.  
  
"Now, Mr. Hibiki, tell us how you came by that enchanted   
object."  
  
Wrapping the blanket around him, Ryoga said, "I KNEW   
anything with a ward on it had to be dangerous!! That's why   
I was taking it some place far away. I wanted to lose it!" He   
bowed his head, "I wanted my bad sense of direction be   
good for something."  
  
Cologne said, "So you found it in the Tendo house?"  
  
Ryoga nodded. He then shuddered. "What if Akane had   
touched that accursed thing!"  
  
Cologne rapped him over the head with her staff. "You   
didn't think YOU touching something that shouldn't be   
touched wouldn't cause MORE trouble?" She looked at   
Shampoo and sighed with deep regret, "Much more."  
  
///  
  
"RAN-MA!!" Akane cried. Ranma had been ducking and   
weaving all during their sparring session in the dojo. He   
hadn't given her ANY opportunity to really practice. Now   
she had followed him into the house swinging her split   
bamboo shinai sword. "When will you take me   
seriously!!?!"  
  
"Oh, I don't know. ...When you show me I should?" Ranma   
was continuing his exasperatingly easy ducks and weaves   
down the inner hall.   
  
"Oh, my!" It'd been all an act. He'd been paying so much   
attention to Akane's attacks that he didn't notice Kasumi   
coming out of the kitchen with supper.  
  
Until it was too late.  
  
"I'm sorry, Kasumi! I've got you!" he cried rescuing her   
from falling while trying to catch the tray in the other.  
  
"Got you!!" Akane cried, whacking Ranma's upraised hand.  
  
Ranma didn't catch the tray. Splash!   
  
Ramen noodles covered the pigtailed girl.  
  
"Oh, my!" a dry Kasumi said getting out of the hug Ranma   
had on her. "Akane! That was a waste of food. You know   
you're not supposed to fight in the house."  
  
Her shinai dipped in defeat, she said, "...I won."  
  
///  
  
"Why are you still a GIRL!?!" Akane accused to the   
redhead sitting next to her at the family table.   
  
"Aw!... What's the big deal. I get changed so often, I'm   
almost used to bein' like this. I'll change when Kasumi   
can bring me the teakettle."  
  
"Oh, my!"  
  
Akane wanted to yell, "Kasumi, how could you forget to   
put on the teakettle?"  
  
"It's on the stove. But Nabiki was telling me how we   
needed to save on gas."  
  
Nabiki on the other side of the table said, "Do you know   
how much money it costs to keep just one burner on?"  
  
Her father said, "But the Saotomes are our guests. Each   
guest has their own peculiar requirements." Then, after a   
hesitation, "I imagine."  
  
The panda held up a sign, [My jobs pay for the hot   
water.]  
  
Before anybody had a chance to remind it the last time it   
had had a decent paying job, Cologne rode her staff in   
through the open garden doors.  
  
Ranma, Akane and Kasumi rose to their feet.  
  
Kasumi asked, "I'll set another place. Will Shampoo be   
joining us, too?"  
  
"No, thank you, dear. I own a restaurant."  
  
"Are you sure I can't interest you in a home cooked   
meal?"  
  
Ranma challenged, "What do you want, you old crone!?!   
Whatever you have planned, I'll just win again!"  
  
"I offer you the cure you've wanted all of these months,   
Future-Son-in-Law."  
  
"I KNEW you knew how to remove the curse!"  
  
Akane said, "Don't listen to her, Ranma! If Cologne knew,   
why did she have to wait all of this time?"  
  
Nabiki suggested, "Perhaps it can only be done under a   
Blue Moon."  
  
The panda held up a sign, [That sounds logical.] Mr.   
Tendo nodded in agreement.  
  
Ranma seemed ready to accept the Amazon leader's   
challenge. So Akane asked her, "What proof do you have   
that you CAN cure Ranma?!"  
  
Cologne said, "I have Shampoo," and clapped.  
  
The wall behind Mr. Tendo ripped open. A Chinese guy   
nearly 6' tall with long lavender hair greeted them with   
a tenor, "Ni hao!"  
  
Everybody stared, too very surprised to say anything.   
Ranma managed to say, "Sh, Sham,poo?"  
  
The guy rushed the petit girl, "Airen! Ranma, My Love!"  
  
Ranma cried in panic, "Stay back!!"   
  
Before anybody else but Cologne could see it happen, the   
little redhead had tossed the guy into the koi pond.  
  
Splash!  
  
But the guy rose out of it. "Ai-ya! Ranma hit me!" he   
exclaimed, holding his abdomen and jaw.  
  
Ranma stammered, "He, he didn't change! He's still a   
guy!"  
  
Cologne smiled cunningly, "As I said, I now know of a way   
to cure you. But before I do, you must go back to China   
with us."  
  
Akane asked, "Are you saying you can cure Ranma here!? If   
you can, why does he have to go all the way back to   
China!?!"  
  
The guy getting out of the pond said, "Because Shampoo   
need cure, now, too!"  
  
Nabiki said, "Wow. It looks like it can only change   
somebody INTO a guy." The thought made her shudder.  
  
Akane pleaded, "Don't go, Ranma! Once they get you to   
China, they'll trap you into marrying Shampoo!"  
  
Nabiki commented, "Hopefully, AFTER she's been changed   
back into a girl."  
  
Shampoo said, "Is too, too true. Shampoo no can stay   
Amazon warrior like this."  
  
The panda added its encouragement, [I'll be there with   
you, son!]  
  
Soun Tendo said, "No you won't! You've already engaged   
Ranma several times over, Genma. To be cured, you'd trade   
Ranma to black-marketeers!"  
  
[You hurt me!]  
  
"I just may." Mr. Tendo then looked at the older woman,   
"Ranma has been pledged to marry one of my daughters   
since before they were born, Madam."  
  
Cologne said, "Ah! I see that your manhood has finally   
come out from where it's been in hiding all these years.   
At least twenty years."  
  
There was something about her remark that unnerved Soun   
Tendo once more.   
  
Cologne said, "Then how is this for an incentive to   
relinquish your claim? If Ranma doesn't leave with us for   
China tomorrow, I will turn one of your daughters into, a   
son."  
  
Mr. Tendo became ashen, "What you have could, do that?"  
  
Cologne eyed him evenly, and nodded. "And each time my   
Future-Son-in-Law refuses to accompany us to China, I   
will turn another of your precious girls into, let us   
say, a "less than precious" boy."  
  
Tendo was mute.  
  
Ranma said, "I'll go with you."  
  
Shampoo cried, "Yipee!"  
  
Akane took hold of his arm, "No, Ranma! You can't!"  
  
Ranma pulled her hand off of him. Still holding it, he   
told her, "I have to. It's okay if I risk my own life.   
But I can't endanger yours."  
  
Akane felt tears start to well up, " Oh, Ranma...."  
  
Ranma said, "I am a martial artist. Riskin' my life so   
that others don't have to is what I do."  
  
"Ran-ma," the teary feeling was gone.  
  
Mr. Tendo rose to his feet at last, "Yes! That is exactly   
what a martial artist is. We are a family of martial   
artists, and it is time we started acting like one."   
  
Nabiki said, "Speak for yourself, Daddy."  
  
Kasumi said, "Oh, my!"  
  
Cologne answered, "It is not your decision. It is   
Ranma's."  
  
Mr. Tendo stepped over the corner of his table and   
approached the Amazon. "Ranma WILL be a part of this   
family, if I have anything to say about it. And you made   
it OUR decision when you threatened my daughters."  
  
Akane's teary feeling of pride was coming back, "Oh,   
Dad!"  
  
Nabiki didn't have similar feelings, "Akane, this is   
about manhood! Daddy may have found his so we could find   
OURS."  
  
"Oh, my!"  
  
Akane was shaken. "Oh, Dad."  
  
Cologne said, "I see they don't know about the family   
skeleton. They ARE found in closets, I believe, Mr.   
Tendo."  
  
Gathering up the courage he had thought long shriveled,   
he told her, "I will tell them."  
  
The little woman hopped on her staff. She ignored   
everybody but one, "Ranma?"  
  
Akane pulled Ranma away and told her, "You heard my dad!   
When you take on one, you take on all of us!"  
  
Shampoo said, "Ai-ya! Just like Amazons!"  
  
Cologne nodded. "Then it is Anything-Goes?"  
  
Ranma cried, "Akane! This isn't just about you! This is   
about your family!"  
  
Akane stood up to the shorter girl, "That's right. This   
about family."  
  
Ranma had no answer for that. Mr. Tendo knew the Code.   
Shampoo knew the Code. And, Ranma saw, Akane knew the   
Code, as well. This had become about the manhood both   
genders could have.  
  
Cologne left on her staff, promising, "Before the night   
is out, there will be at least one less Tendo sister."  
  
///  
  
They ate their supper watching each other's backs. The   
hole in the wall Shampoo had left was proof that it could   
come from any direction.  
  
Kasumi said, "Eat up everybody."  
  
Nabiki said, "I don't feel like eating." She eyed her   
father, accusingly.  
  
Akane set aside her misgivings about her father. She was   
determined to face the crisis like the martial artist   
she'd dedicated her life to be. "I don't feel like   
eating, either. But we need to have our energy to stand   
vigil tonight."   
  
Mr. Tendo said, "Quite right. I suggest we retire to the   
dojo. That will be the best place to have a battle. And   
we can practice our martial arts skills. I'm afraid some   
of us have allowed them to become somewhat rusty."  
  
Nabiki said, "Just one problem with that, Daddy. We can't   
stay in the dojo all night. Even the most disciplined   
martial artist has to take a rest break every few hours.   
What happens then? Synchronize?"  
  
"Uh, humm! Yes. Well, we'll practice in here. There's   
room for katas."  
  
Kasumi liked to look for the positive, "Oh, my! Practice   
drills! I haven't done any in years. It should be fun."  
  
Nabiki didn't, "Oh, fun."  
  
Her father said, "We shall use the Martial Arts Bunraku   
Technique. That should reeducate the bodies of the less   
proficient." Bunraku was a respected art form, where men   
made 'invisible' by their dark hooded uniforms   
manipulated half-sized and even life-sized puppets on   
stage.   
  
Ranma thought about the suggestion, "The one with the   
better skills becomes the puppet master, usin' his Chi to   
imprint what his body has assimilated over the habits of   
his puppet student." He snorted, "Crude. But we have   
no time for them to learn to use their own nerve   
impulses properly." He got up, "I guess that means I'm   
gonna be busy all night playing the guy in the hood and   
black clothes."   
  
Akane got up, "What about me?! I can be a master: *I*   
know the technique, too!"  
  
"But your skills aren't any where NEAR good enough! If   
you imprinted your body's skills on your sisters, instead   
of defendin' themselves, they'd be more likely to provide   
an opening by stumblin'."  
  
"Ha! If you really thought that all this time, why didn't   
you ever use the Bunraku Technique to help me!"  
  
"Because I knew you'd never let me get close enough to   
you to touch you like I have to!"  
  
"You have that right, Pervert! But I can touch you!" And   
she drew back her fist.  
  
Mr. Tendo said, "Children! This is not the time for that!   
This is the time when we work together."  
  
Nabiki said sarcastically, "Yeah: Three Musketeer time.   
They were guys, too."  
  
Kasumi thought, "Do we have any muskets around?" She   
brightened, "I know where a some of Grandfather   
Happosai's firebombs are."  
  
Soun Tendo said, "Akane, I, too, am a trifle out of   
practice. You can use your practiced skills to help   
recondition my own."  
  
Akane wanted to glare at him. She knew that if her skills   
weren't better than his, HE'D be the one to imprint his   
over hers. She was pretty sure that's why he volunteered.   
The reason she didn't glare at him was because of one her   
own uncertainty. Were hers better?  
  
Nabiki said, "Kasumi, you can have Ranma for your   
partner."  
  
Kasumi got up with her usual smile, "And Mr. Saotome can   
be yours."  
  
Her head in her hand, she looked at the creature, "No   
thank you. I'm sure that a panda's nerve impulses are   
just too different to imprint any useful skills. I don't   
think knowing how to curl up around a tire and squeeze is   
going to help me KEEP my gender."  
  
She then glared at the animal, "Don't you dare make the   
hentai comment I know you're thinking about."  
  
[I'm not the pervert.]  
  
Kasumi volunteered, "I'll get the teakettle."  
  
Her father said, "No, Kasumi. You are not to leave our   
sight."  
  
///  
  
Nabiki watched the aura of the much shorter redhead take   
over Kasumi. Seemingly as one, they went through the set   
routine of stretches and bends and twists that were the   
ballet of slow-motion shadow fighting. Kasumi's giving,   
yielding nature allowed her to be nearly the complete   
puppet, reflecting Ranma's movements almost completely.   
The two became so merged that at times it did seem Ranma   
became but a shadow behind the larger female.  
  
And when that illusion happened, it was jarring to see   
Kasumi knee, kick, jab, punch, heel and gouge.  
  
Meanwhile: Akane cried in frustration, "Dad! I have   
shorter arms!"  
  
"And I have longer legs."  
  
If Akane could be awkward and clumsy before, she was   
doubly so now. To Nabiki, it seemed like their father was   
trying to let her lead. But it wasn't working. Whether it   
was because his male pride wouldn't let him give way   
entirely to a female, or because their male versus female   
nerve impulses were just too dissimilar to mesh   
correctly, Nabiki wasn't sure. That gender WAS involved,   
she was sure. Perhaps it was his thought that Akane COULD   
be a male tonight.   
  
Finally Akane stepped on her dad's foot at the wrong   
moment.   
  
Both Nabiki and the panda moved the family table out of   
the way in time as both father and daughter tumbled to   
the tatami mat floor.  
  
"Eerrrr-Raar!" Akane screamed in frustration, pulling   
herself from under her father.  
  
Mr. Tendo hurried to sit erect, "That was very good for a   
first attempt, Akane. We shall try again in an hour or   
so. We must give your nerves the chance to forget what   
they've learned."  
  
"You mean you think I'm a klutz, too!"  
  
"Not at all! The Bunraku Technique is not for everybody.   
And even for those who can benefit from its use must   
practice on their own to adjust the master's body   
impulses to their own."  
  
"Are you saying my body is 'unique'!?!" To Akane,   
conditioned by Ranma, it all sounded like an insult.  
  
He tried to sooth her, "Every body is unique."  
  
The panda and Nabiki put the table back in place. She   
said, "He's not saying you have a body like Lum's Shinobu   
Miyake. I'm sure he's saying you have one more like   
Ryunosuke Fujinami."  
  
Akane didn't get the references: "What does THAT   
mean!!?!"  
  
Nabiki studied their father. "Shinobu was a girl who   
didn't have the sexiest of bodies. Ryunosuke did, but she   
was more guy than girl. Am I CORRECT, Father?"  
  
Soun Tendo tried to smile and say something casual. It   
caught in his throat. The way his middle-daughter had   
said that reminded him of the way Cologne had implied her   
own accusations. Unable to say anything, he bowed his   
head in shame.  
  
Nabiki turned to the panda, "If one father won't talk,   
maybe another will?"  
  
[I am a panda. I can't talk.]  
  
Ranma asked, "What's this?" She'd left Kasumi to continue   
her katas using just the memory of her partner. She was   
humming a tune as if it were a dance.  
  
Nabiki moved her eyes from one father and back again,   
studying their minutest reactions, "Unless I miss my   
guess (and I usually don't), this could also explain why   
you got your girl curse rather than one of the other   
Jusenkyo curse."  
  
Even Ranma couldn't miss the panda's cringe.   
  
She grabbed it by the fur on its chest and yanked it to   
her, "OK, Pop! Out with it! Did you plan on me bein'   
made a girl BEFORE we went to China!?!!"  
  
[If I knew, I WOULDN'T have taken you to China!!]  
  
Nabiki said, "I don't know. Curses have a way of spoiling   
the best plans." She turned her head, "Right, Daddy?"  
  
Soun Tendo began to cry, "I am so sorry! So very sorry!   
Because of my weakness I robbed you of your rightful   
identities!"  
  
"Father!?!" Kasumi had stopped dancing.  
  
Akane demanded, "And which weakness was it!!?!"  
  
Nabiki asked, "Did it have to do with Happosai?"   
  
Soun hid his face in the crook of his arm, "Yes!"  
  
From everything Nabiki knew about her father, all of his   
real problems stem from when he became that gnome's   
student.  
  
Now, even Ranma could begin to figure it out. "What did   
he steal, Pop! Tell me!! Will it make me a whole guy,   
again!?!!"  
  
[I, I'm not sure!]  
  
Soun wailed, "A phallus. It was a sacred phallus I stole   
from a remote mountain temple!! Oh, the multiple shames   
of the deed!"  
  
Both Akane turned up her nose in disgust, "A penis   
idol!!?!!" Ranma's face agreed with her.  
  
"Oh, my! What would Grandfather Happosai want with that?"  
  
Nabiki said to the eldest girl, "If you have to ask, you   
don't want to know." She continued, "So, instead of doing   
it himself, he had you and Saotome do his dirty work for   
him. Right?"  
  
Soun hung his head low, but nodded.  
  
Ranma said, "OK, I can understand if you steal something   
full of sacred magic from a temple, you're gonna get   
cursed. But what EXACTLY is the curse. And what does it   
have to do with ME havin' to be a girl!!"  
  
Nabiki focused on her father's face intensely. She   
couldn't read his mind, but it seemed at that moment she   
could read the lines, ticks and sweat drops. "It's just   
not you. We've all been cursed to be girls."  
  
Soun collapsed into a crying fit.  
  
Nabiki whispered, "Oh, gods, I'm right...."  
  
///  
  
Nearly twenty years earlier two barefoot, young men slid   
the door to the temple's main hall open as quietly as   
their martial arts skills allowed.   
  
"You go ahead, Tendo," the broad man pushed from behind.  
  
Nearly jumping out of his skin, the more handsome man   
hissed, "Quiet, Saotome,"   
  
"Maybe I should help the Master in his food raid."  
  
"You mean pantie raid. No, Saotome, you're not leaving ME   
alone in here," he said, pulling the other inside by the   
sleeve.   
  
The hall, though large, was almost completely bare except   
for the altar at the other end.   
  
Saotome told him, "Be careful, Tendo. The floor might be   
booby-trapped. Remember the "Nightingale Floor" of Nijo   
Castle."  
  
"A remote mountain temple doesn't need anything that   
elaborate, not to mention expensive. Now, come on!"  
  
They crept to the table. There in the midst of the rice,   
vegetables, and other offerings was the life-sized,   
wooden object that people directed their prayers towards.   
  
Saotome said, "So, uh, Tendo. This is it. The dojigg--I   
mean phallus. I somehow imagined it would be bigger."  
  
Tendo nodded, "Yes. So many are. I've seen one that is   
larger than a man. And require over twelve to carry in   
the annual parade."  
  
"The ones I've seen one strong man could perhaps carry."   
There was an implied challenge.  
  
"And I've seen some that women can carry. This must be   
one of them. Though even those are usually too large to,   
uh, use."  
  
Saotome said, "Yes. Women. Why don't you pick it up,   
Tendo."   
  
Tendo scowled, "What!? Are you so afraid of losing your   
manhood that you are AFRAID to touch it?"  
  
"Of course not, Tendo! If anything, touching a phallus   
should make one, uh, fertile."  
  
"Right. Fertile."  
  
"A sacred phallus can also protect one from...certain   
diseases."  
  
"Now why would I worry about that, Saotome?"  
  
"You!? Of course you don't have to take precautions.   
There is no need. After all, you have a wonderful wife! A   
woman who brings a house and dojo as part of her dowry!   
You would never bring home a disease to her."  
  
"Okay, Saotome! I will be the one to pick it up! --But   
only to prove how safe it is!"  
  
"Of course, Tendo!"  
  
No sooner had Soun Tendo had the object in his hands,   
but:  
  
"Thief!!"/ "Vandal!!"/ "Desecrator!!"/ "Pervert!!"  
  
"What a haul! What a haul!! Who would believe priestesses   
would wear such lacy, silky dainties!!"  
  
Through the paper door burst their evil master with his   
bag of loot and lingerie! "Aren't you done yet, boys?! Or   
are you waiting for the ladies so you can try the naughty   
thing out on!!"  
  
The two young men blanched. "Of course, not Master!! We   
would never--"  
  
Saotome orated, "Just because we're you students, doesn't   
mean--"  
  
"There's more than one of them!!" came the female cry   
from the door. It was a middle-aged woman in priestly   
garb with three younger girls in nightdresses and   
pajamas. They all were wielding ancient but deadly   
weapons.  
  
Happosai laughed, "I'll give you some time alone with the   
ladies!" And he went through the one of the walls of the   
hall. "So *I* can get away! Yeh, ha, ha, HA!!"  
  
"I see! The old pervert is training the young   
perverts!!"/ "You mean they mean to USE the object of   
power!!?!"/ "Let's use it on them first!!"  
  
"Tendo?"  
  
"Yes, Saotome."  
  
"I think this would be a good time to escape."  
  
"I quite agree. RUN!!"  
  
"Every man for himself!!"  
  
///  
  
One of them did not escape.   
  
The middle-aged priestess who was training the three   
young girls cast this curse on the embedded phallus: "Woe   
be the world if there are more like you that you may   
train in your evil ways! I therefore REVERSE the power of   
this phallus! Its blessing would only be a curse if it   
helped to bring sons to these wicked men!   
  
"Therefore, your lineage shall end with you! Let all of   
your issue by naught but female!"  
  
She pulled the phallus out and threw it on top of the   
fallen man. "You have desecrated this sacred object! We   
shall have to consecrate a new one.   
  
"You must keep this one near you at all times as a   
reminder of your sin! Failure to do so, will bring the   
wickedness you have tainted it with down not just upon   
you. Your descendants for generations would bear only   
females! "  
  
For the first time in his life, Soun Tendo really wept.   
He had stoically endured the first part of the curse, but   
the thought that his shame would do harm to those he   
loved was too much to bear.   
  
The priestess saw and was moved. "There is one way to   
remove the pollution that has settled in seed."  
  
Through blurry tears, Soun finally tried to look at   
somebody in the eye. "There is?"  
  
"If one of your offspring marries one of the man who also   
violated this temple, THEN it is possible that marriage,   
respect...love may wash the sins of the fathers clean."  
  
Soun asked, "But can that happen?! Will Saotome's child   
ALSO be female?!"  
  
///  
  
Akane was stunned. "Is, is THAT why the engagement was so   
important?"  
  
Ranma said, "Is that the real reason I ended up cursed to   
be a girl?"  
  
Nabiki told her, "The curse was knowing you were supposed   
to be a guy. It was better NOT knowing!"  
  
Kasumi said, "Now, Nabiki. If I understand how Father's   
Curse works, we were only changed into a girl if we   
weren't already girls." She smiled, "I, myself, am   
certain that I was always meant to be a girl."  
  
"Oh, yeah? If *I* understand how his stupid curse goes,   
there's a way to find out: Just touch that magic dildo!"  
  
Kasumi thought about it; "Oh, my!"  
  
Akane swallowed, "And once we do, we can never become   
girls again."  
  
Ranma said, "I'd never have to worry about becomin' a   
girl again."  
  
Kasumi corrected, "Assuming that you, too, are cursed   
because of the original curse." Then she tried to think   
about what she had just said, "Are you sure the removing   
the original can remove the second curse?"  
  
Ranma said, "I'm willin' to find out!"  
  
Nabiki said, bleakly, "It worked on Shampoo."  
  
"Oh, my! Shampoo had the same curse? Why do so many   
people want phalluses?"  
  
///  
  
Later Kasumi was back to doing katas. This time she was   
serious about practicing on her own.   
  
Akane had her back to her father, her arms crossed, a   
scowl on her face.   
  
Ranma finally noticed, "Where'd Pop go?! How can a big,   
lumbering' panda just slip away like that!?"  
  
A forlorn-looking Soun Tendo said, "He probably went to   
the lav."  
  
Akane said, "No. Nabiki's in there."  
  
Suddenly she, her father, and Ranma realized: "Nabiki!"  
  
They ran for the lav as fast as they could.   
  
Fortunately, Soun thought to go back to protect Kasumi.  
  
///  
  
Ranma pounded on the door, "Open up! Nabiki! Open up!   
It's okay for me to be in there with you! I'm a girl!!"  
  
Akane pleaded, "Let us protect you! You don't want to be-  
-"  
  
The door opened. A 6-foot-tall teenager with Nabiki's   
hair came out of the lav.  
  
Akane yipped, and covered her eyes. The guy was nude.  
  
Ranma said, "We're too late."  
  
The baritone said, "Luckily." She told the redhead who   
was checking out the open window in the lav, "She's   
already left."  
  
Angry, Akane cried, "You WANTED to be--" She remembered   
to cover her eyes again.  
  
Nabiki headed for the bathroom, next door, "Not at   
first." The sheer number of new sensations jammed the   
funnel to his conscious. Feeling only vaguely connected   
to the body, his logic dominated. "After all, there ARE   
things about being a girl I like."  
  
Ranma followed, "Yeah!? I can't think of many."  
  
He went for one of his father's brown do-gi's in the   
laundry hamper. "But then I asked myself, what do I   
really want?"  
  
Ranma said sarcastically, "Money?"  
  
Nabiki started putting on the male clothes, "Exactly!   
While women may have some advantages in their power to   
manipulate, it is obvious it takes a male to really be   
successful in the business world. If that weren't the   
case, there would be more women running corporations."  
  
Still diverting her eyes, Akane said, "That certainly   
sounds like Nabiki."  
  
Tying the black belt, he said, "Make that Nabido."  
  
///  
  
On their way back to the family room, Nabido was saying,   
"I know there will be times when I will regret this   
decision. After all, many of the luxuries I wanted to   
indulge in are more socially acceptable for women. And   
being socially acceptable IS part of the business exec's   
game. But as with anything that is worth doing,   
sacrifices have to be made."  
  
"Na, Nabiki??" his father stumbled towards the familiar   
looking stranger.   
  
Nabido said, "Hello, Father. Our meeting has been long   
delayed."  
  
Soun Tendo broke out in a loud lament as he sank to his   
knees, "My Nabiki!! My poor, lost daughter, Nabiki!!   
Where have I failed you as a father!! I tried to make   
your life as a girl as free and happy as I could! I   
thought allowing you to make the money I could not give   
you would make you enjoy that life!..."  
  
Nabido said, "Well, things ARE beginning to make sense."  
  
It was Akane who was astounded. "You, you mean Dad did,   
didn't want sons??"  
  
Ranma asked, " ' Looks like it."   
  
Nabido dispassionately said, "Probably his guilt wouldn't   
let him. And it WAS easier to think we were what we   
looked like."  
  
Kasumi was down on her knees, hugging and patting the   
back of the older man, "There, there, Father. I'll always   
be here for you."  
  
Nabido shook his head, "And there is the reason Kasumi   
will probably never get married."  
  
Akane told him curtly, "That's disgusting, Nabiki!   
Kasumi's not like that!"  
  
Nabido headed down the hall and towards the upstairs, "I   
did not imply anything incestuous. I mean the reason   
Kasumi would rather stay home than date is because she   
has NO interest in guys."  
  
Akane swung her head around to stare at her biggest   
sister. "But, but she's always been so, so...feminine."  
  
Ranma tired not to show too much on her face, "Which she   
won't be allowed to be if she becomes a guy."  
  
Cologne suddenly appeared, "Then, perhaps, SHE should be   
the next one I return into her true form, Future-Son-in-  
Law. Come with me, or have Kasumi's life ruined forever."  
  
Akane screeched, "I can't believe even YOU could be so   
cruel!!"  
  
Ranma grabbed Akane's arm--And tossed her across the room   
behind her! "Listen up, Old Ghoul!! If you so much as   
THREATEN any of the Tendos again, I'll tell Shampoo why   
SHE changed into a guy!!"  
  
Cologne's eyes narrowed. "You do not know what you're   
talking about."  
  
"Oh, no!? I know the Musk used the cursed springs to turn   
animals into brides to give their children the qualities   
of those animals!"  
  
Cologne's eyes narrowed even further.  
  
"What would the ANTI-MUSK Amazons use those springs for?   
To keep the qualities of the male warrior but give them the   
talents of a woman: A woman's heightened senses, think with a   
woman's priorities, have a woman's caution!?   
  
"What better way to honor a comrade killed in battle than   
to bear a child in her name?   
  
"What happens when non-warrior villagers are killed or   
stolen by raiders? Steal another people's women to replace   
them? But why draw attention to yourselves like that? ONE   
man has the potential to create hundreds, thousands, millions   
of babies. Billions, even!  
  
"...And why do the final, unwelcome-looking defenders of   
the villages, the men of the Amazons, act more like   
women? Who would want to steal those hellcats?"  
  
Ranma stood her ground; it was now the old woman's move.  
  
Cologne said, "Shampoo would never believe that she was   
originally a male."  
  
Ranma said, "Whatever you tell me, I will tell her she   
was. And I will have the whole trip to China to convince   
her. And THEN I will tell every Amazon I get near."  
  
The redhead had one final card to play, "I know from my   
own time as a girl, to be fully committed to female   
talents, you have no have no doubts you ARE female."  
  
Cologne smiled wearily, "You have finally won, my no   
longer Future-Son-in-Law. Tis more the pity. That spirit of   
yours when infused to your seed would've made the Amazon   
race indomitable."  
  
She tossed her the phallus, "You have earned this."  
  
Ranma felt something familiar, yet it was also different   
this time. It felt...permanent.  
  
Cologne told the teen boy, "Sayonara, Ranma Saotome! I do   
hope we will meet again. And may it be as allies." And   
with that, she disappeared.  
  
Ranma savored his freedom only until he looked down at   
his body. "I'm, I'm me again. I'm a guy without any hot   
water! I'm cured!!"  
  
Splash! Akane threw a glass of water on him.  
  
She gaped, "You ARE still a guy!"  
  
Ranma, his face about to bust from his grin, went to hold   
her, "Akane! Do you know what this mean!?!!"  
  
Akane screamed, "Stay away from me with that thing!!"  
  
Ranma HAD almost embraced her while he was holding it.   
"Oh, sorry! I didn't want that to happen--Honest!!"   
  
He looked around for a safe place to put it, and tossed   
it in a bowl on the table, where everybody could see it.   
He turned back to Akane, "I'm a guy, now: For good!"  
  
Akane still stayed away from him, "Th, that's wonder,   
wonderful, Ranma."  
  
"Akane? What's wrong? Aren't you happy?"  
  
Akane held back her tears, "For you? Of course I am! I   
couldn't be happier!" Her voice then said quietly,   
"...for you."  
  
"Akane! What's the matter? The curse is gone!"  
  
Kasumi rose to her feet, and put her gentle hand on   
Ranma's now broad shoulders, "Ranma, for Akane, the curse   
is not over."  
  
Ranma didn't understand. He looked to Kasumi, then back   
to Akane, and then, "You mean she...WANTS to be a...."  
  
Akane sank all the way to the floor. "I don't know what I   
want! I don't know!!" she yelled, striking the floor with   
all her female might.  
  
Kasumi said, sadly, "Akane has said she hated boys. But   
perhaps, it was because she really hated being a girl."   
Kasumi started tearing up, "She has always had trouble   
being feminine. The harder she tried, the more she   
sabotaged her efforts."  
  
Ranma choked, "Yeah. A real tom...boy."  
  
Akane continued beating up the floor, and herself, "I   
don't know! I don't know! I THINK I may want to be a boy-  
-But Ranma is a boy, now!" She broke down in a sob,   
"Forever!!"  
  
Kasumi squared her soft shoulders, "If a Tendo girl must   
marry you to release our families from the curse, I will   
do it. I promise to show you the respect you deserve.   
From that, perhaps, love will grow, and make everything  
alright.  
  
Ranma thought probably not. Despite Kasumi's ability to   
surrender herself to her role, even she probably had a   
limit.  
///  
  
Ranma Saotome stood outside the Tendo's fortress-like   
gate. His traveling pack and bedroll were slung around   
his shoulders. "Well, I guess this is good-bye. I hope   
I'll see you again before too long."  
  
Mr. Tendo said, "Of course, Ranma. You will always be   
welcome back...whatever happens."  
  
Kasumi said, "Write, or phone, when you can!"  
  
Nabido said, "Do you need any more money? This may be the   
last time I'll feel generous."  
  
Akane said, "No. It would seem like cheating if we had   
anything more than we absolutely required for a training   
mission." She, too, was carrying a traveling pack and   
bedroll. Instead of her usual skirt, she was wearing lose   
a Mao uniform, with short hairdo under the cap that made   
her look almost like a boy. Only her unbound breasts said   
differently.  
  
Ranma made one last appeal, "Are you sure you want to do   
this, Akane? There's no guarantee you'll end up in the   
"Spring of Drowned Young Man"."  
  
His hand in hers, she pulled him down the street; she was   
anxious to leave before she started getting too   
sentimental like a girl. "I know. That's why this must be   
a training mission."   
  
Ranma squeezed her hand back, "I promise, by everything I   
value, you will be trained, Akane. I will use every bit   
of experience I've had bein' a guy who was a girl to help   
you be the best and cutest tomboy in the world."  
  
She smiled at her new morning, "One way or another, I   
will be Akane ½."  
The End 


End file.
